Delhi stung by dengue: Death toll reaches 19, number of cases cross 1300

New Delhi: The death toll due to dengue in the national capital has increased to 19 even as the number of cases of the vector-borne disease crossed 1,300.

At least 220 fresh cases of dengue have been reported in the last week while 607 cases have been recorded this month till 17 September, according to a municipal report released on Monday.

"An adult man died of dengue about a month ago at our hospital. However, no fatality was reported due to chikungunya in the hospital," a senior doctor at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital told PTI.

LNJP Hospital is the biggest under the Delhi government and the first dengue death of this season was also reported. The victim was a 17-year-old girl from from Jafrabad in northeast Delhi who had died on 21 July.

Representational image. Reuters

"This season, 522 dengue cases have been diagnosed at our (LNJP) hospital. We are getting about 750 patients in our fever clinic everyday. We have kept 52 beds in fever wards and 21 in fever clinics," the doctor said.

Out of the 19 fatalities, nine have been reported at AIIMS, while the rest at other hospitals in the city.

However, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, which compiles the report on vector-borne diseases on behalf of all civic bodies here, has maintained the death toll at four.

These four deaths include that of Iram Khan (25), a native of Meerut, who lived in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi, and succumbed to dengue on 31 August at Apollo Hospital.

The other three deaths reported by SDMC include Nazish (38), sister-in-law of Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan, who had died of dengue shock syndrome at Apollo Hospital on 12 August.

Muskan (12), a resident of Shaheen Bagh, had died on 29 July, while Deepak (19), from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to the disease on 27 July. Both died at Safdarjung Hospital.

Besides, five other fatalities have been reported by different hospitals in the city which have not yet been acknowledged by the SDMC.

AIIMS in a report released on 15 September had said among the dengue and chikungunya patients visiting it, 70 per cent belonged to Uttar Pradesh, 10 per cent to Bihar and rest to Delhi.

AIIMS is getting several suspected dengue patients everyday in its fever clinics, though less number are showing confirmed cases compared to chikungunya for which 1,440 blood samples have tested positive till 13 September.

At least 1,378 cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital. September-October is the peak season for dengue and other vector-borne diseases.

Out of the total number of cases, August alone accounted for 652.

Last year, the city saw a staggering 15,867 dengue cases --the worst in 20 years--with the disease claiming 60 lives, as per municipal reports. In 1996, a severe outbreak of dengue had occurred in Delhi when about 10,252 cases and 423 deaths were reported.

SDMC has recorded 302 cases, the maximum among all the regions in the city. North Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation have registered 134 and 86 cases respectively, according to the report.

Central Zone of South Delhi Municipal Corporation has recorded 119 cases, the highest among its four zones. Najafgarh, West and and South Zones reported 84, 53 and 46 cases respectively.